Peacock, Valda Mae Interview

Good afternoon. This is Caroline [Lowry] interviewing Valda Peacock from Waipukurau, on Wednesday 5th August 2020, about her amazing life with the theatre, and all sorts of other things. She was born on the 16th July 1939, so she’s got a lot to share. Hi, Valda.

Hi, Caroline.

So you told me you were born here?

Yes. I was born in Waipukurau, 1939, July 16th, and it was snowing so I’m told.

Amazing!

Yes.

And so you’re one of how many children?

Two. Yes. There’s just myself and my brother, and I’ve lived here all my life apart from twenty-seven years in Waipawa. [Chuckles]

And your parents?

Yes, my parents were both … yes, Mum was born in Waipawa and Dad was born in Takapau, and they’ve lived all their lives here. Dad had a shop in town called Cyril Parker’s Melody Shop, and he was known for standing outside his shop, with a beret and smoking a cigar. He was quite a town … special person, so they tell me. [Chuckles]

And he sold mainly ..?

Oh, he sold musical instruments, and guitar strings and violin strings; anything to do – and cornets and trumpets and – anything to do with music. And he also sold sewing machines and televisions and a few other extra … radios, of course, HMV; [His Master’s Voice] they all had the old HMV.

And you were at school here?

Yes, I went to Waipukurau Primary School, then to Intermediate, which at the time was at the Waipukurau District High School. And that became, when my children went to school, the Central Hawke’s Bay College.

And while you were at school, what were your interests?

Mainly basketball [now known as netball] … yes; I didn’t have a lot of interests there. Didn’t get into acting or any … schools didn’t have it until, ooh, I don’t remember. But I think I remember one production at school, and that’s all; we didn’t have … not how lucky they are today, they’ve got all these, and they’re taught drama and singing and speech; it’s much, much, better.

So then when you left school, you went on to ..?

Oh yes – went on to the Central Hawke’s Bay Electric Power Board, as a machinist; and I worked there for some considerable time, and then I became the General Manager’s secretary in the later times. And I taught; oh yes, that’s right – that’s another thing altogether. But my father only allowed me to learn to play the piano, because that was his thing, of course, and all I wanted to do was to go to ballet classes. So in the end – we had my grandmother and grandmother [grandfather] living with us; they were Colletts from Waipawa way … an old family in Waipawa … and Mum was a Rayner. And he used to slip me the money to go to ballet lessons once a week; and I think my mother might have guessed, or my mother’s mother might have told her, but when I did my first recital they came to that, and said yes, I could continue to go dancing.

Lovely.

Yes, it was lovely. And Joan Leonard was our teacher then and she left the district to go to Auckland, I think it was, and so I took over the classes and taught ballet at Waipukurau, and had about twenty-five to thirty little girls, who all formed a lovely parade for me when I got married. And I married Bavel in 1961, and yes, I met him at the Young Farmers’ Club dances and we had a lovely courtship and a lovely wedding, and three children.

And then, your interest in musical theatre and ..?

Yes. Well that’s been with me most of my life. In fact … yeah, it has been with me, I would say, yes. I was lucky enough to get a QSM [Queen’s Service Medal] for fifty years of interest in drama and speech in the district, and that was very exciting.

And so some of the highlights of around that time?

Oh, yes; we did the Australasian premiere of ‘Sweet Charity’ in Waipawa, and I was Sweet Charity, so that was pretty special; that was probably something I will never forget. [Chuckle] Never, ’cause I’m not exactly known as a great singer, but I managed it. [Chuckle] And same with ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ – I wasn’t a great singer, but I could, they persevered with me. [Chuckle]

And then the directing – when did that start?

Ah, that started … I think ‘Bark’ was the first thing I went in in Waipukurau, at the Waipukurau Little Theatre, and it was directed by May McDonald from Napier. And I was the maid, and that was also my introduction, and the people were so lovely to me at age sixteen; it was [a] really good way to enter … was wonderful. Yes.

And then after your children you started directing, is that right?

Yes, I started directing, and I did the odd – oh, I started at choreography over in Waipawa; and then I started doing plays with Waipukurau Little Theatre and musicals for Waipawa M & D. [Musical & Dramatic Club]

And so how many do you think you’ve directed over the years [chuckle] altogether?

Oh, gosh! Oh, I’d hate to say; probably about seventy. [Chuckle] Sounds a lot, but I’ve never sort of counted them up, you know. And I’ve done quite a few plays too; and I did, I think about seven for Hastings Musical Comedy Company, and I think ‘bout three from Napier; might’ve only been two. Yes.

The Waipawa M & D, which was sort of very dear to you, that theatre …

Yes.

… got a sort of a renovation a little while ago, did it?

Oh, yes, it was … yes, great big renovation; it was absolutely marvellous, but they kept the beautiful oldness of it too. It’s really been very well done, and congratulations to the Council and to Helen Walker and Kevin Gordon, who did a lot of the organising for it, and the Committee. Yes.

And so what sort of improvements did you notice?

Oh, well, the stage; the stage was sort of very raked, and it’s just wonderful now. And it was getting a bit old, you know how it does. And underneath the stage was just … when I did ‘Sweet Charity’, I had to jump off the front of the stage, go under the stage and have buckets of water thrown over me as if I was coming out of a pond; and it was terrible – the cobwebs and everything under there. But that’s all been cleared out now; it’s wonderful. The kitchen’s better, everything is just wonderful now.

And the sound?

The sound! The acoustics are absolutely wonderful, yes. They really are.

And tell me, another one of your hobbies was knitting dolls?

Ooh yes; [chuckles] well knitting clothes for dolls. I used to buy the dolls and make the clothes and the hats and their petticoats and bloomers; the whole works, and I used to …

So you’ve got quite a collection?

I have. Yes, [chuckles] I have.

Back to the theatre for a bit, there was another accolade that you got from the Theatre Federation, is that right?

Oh yes, The Musical Theatre New Zealand. Yes I did. I got life member there, which was a huge honour, and I was absolutely delighted. And that was only … I think it was only three years ago.

And it’s still quite an active scene down here, I believe?

Oh, yes, absolutely. The whole Central Hawke’s Bay, there’s the Waipukurau Little Theatre, the Waipawa M & D, and there’s all sorts, you know dancing schools. It’s well covered in Central Hawke’s Bay. Great place to live.

Yeah, fantastic. And your daughter, Megan … in the theatre?

Yes. She’s my baby; but she is in theatre, yes, definitely. And she went away … she went to Hamilton … she did a diploma with Gillian. [Davies]

In drama?

In drama, yes, with Gillian. And then she went to Waikato and did a degree; and then she went to Wellington and did a Masters there.

In theatre?

In theatre; speech and drama, yes. And now she’s managing Toitoi, [Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre] which is great. It’s going to be so lovely for the district, it really is. The Opera House is still there, and it is still as beautiful as it was; and it looks exactly the same. They’ve done everything – the roof, the insides, the walls – it’s absolutely wonderful. And then the new part’s coming along, and of course, you haven’t seen everything yet now, because it’s going round to the old ballroom that used to be up the top. You’ve all to see that yet.

And tell me about Toitoi, the name?

The name – ah, well it’s not the weed. [Chuckle] Toitoi, I believe it’s … forgive me, Megan … it’s a [an] Italian name, I think, and it means energetic, vivacity, life … anything very … you know, that you can get your teeth into. It’s a lovely … she’ll tell you. [Chuckle]

Now if we can just backtrack a little bit, ‘cause I’m fascinated; when you were talking about your father having the music shop in Waipukurau, there were other sort of shops there obviously …

Oh, yes.

… ‘cause it was a bustling town.

Yes. Ernest Adams, ice cream shop, yes, absolutely.

And now, of course, they’re ..?

Yeah, they’re known all over New Zealand; and still packing ice creams, aren’t they, I think? Yes.

So when you were younger, what other shops do you remember there being in Waipukurau?

Yes, we had booksellers; I think we had a library … not ‘til later. We had vegetable shops, the greengrocers in the middle of town; we had a dentist in the middle of town. It was a lively little town, it really was; and Friday nights everyone would get dressed in their best clothes and go to town. And we had the movie theatre, which is, yes, not there now; that was in the main street but that’s shifted now to one of the back streets, I should say. But it’s a lovely theatre too … very, very nice.

And other organisations that you’ve been involved in?

Brownies; Girl Guides; Mum was very involved in the Brownies and Girl Guides. Country Women’s Institute – Mum was very involved with that, but I never got to that. But I did go to Viewpoint. What else have we got? Probus – that’s wonderful for all us lovely, young grey-headed women.

How long has Probus been going, do you think?

Oh, it’s been going … I would say perhaps fifteen … I don’t know, I’ll be corrected on this … fifteen to twenty years, it could even be older. But it’s wonderful for us to go, and we have lovely speakers, and we go on little trips around the North Island; and it’s really, really nice … ‘tis.

Oh, that’s great.

Part 2 of the interview with Valda Peacock.

I’m just going to give you a little talk.

I appeared in Waipawa M & D in the seventies, I think. In those days nobody ever put the dates on the programmes, and I’ve fought long and hard for people to put their dates on the programmes for that very reason, so it wasn’t ’til the late seventies, eighties, that they started putting the dates. They put August to August something, but no year. So that was very interesting.

Now I started with Waipawa Musical and Dramatic Club in a compiled show by Neil Faulkner, and it was called “Victory V”; and then I was Annie in Laurie Swindell’s production of “Annie Get Your Gun”; and then I was Lucy in “Charlie Brown”, and my son, Geoffrey, was the dog, Snoopy. And then I had the absolute pleasure of being cast as Charity in “Sweet Charity” which we did, which was a wonderful, wonderful thing to do, it really was. And it was very well-received, and I got quite a big head over that one. And then I did “Cinderella” for Waipawa M & D, and I do remember one matinee. And I was thirty at the time, and we had the Te Aute Boys’ College in the audience, and they all came back-stage ’cause they wanted to meet Cinderella, [chuckles] which I thought was rather pleasant, as I was thirty years old. Anyway, they enjoyed it.

And then we did “A Night at the Races” which I choreographed, and I was one of the leads. And then Waipawa M & D again; choreographed “Bitter Sweet”, “A Wedding in Paris”, and “The Boyfriend”, and then went on to musicals. The few little ones – “Christmas Was Never Like This”; “Ma Baker’s Tonic”; “Mad Memories”; “Rome Sweet Rome”; “Christmas Shone Through” – I think all of those we actually did in our little hall to make some money, so we would have enough money to do some big musicals. “Hooray for Hollywood”; “Bless ‘Em All” – had to have the army and the navy and the air force; “Flapper Days”, 1920s. And then I directed my first show, which was called “Irma la Douce”. And at that stage we were lucky enough to have Gillian Davies, who came to the show; and she went to all the plays and musicals in the area and judged them. And I was lucky enough to win “Irma la Douce”. Thank you, Gillian – that made a big start to my career.

And then we did “Cabaret”, and that, as you know was … we had the Hitler signs up, the swastika, the whole works; it’s a wonderful show – if you haven’t seen it, people, do go when you can. And then the next big one we did was “Chicago”, and that’s another big musical, and then we went to “[The] Little Shop of Horrors”, which was quite interesting with all the plants, from the little wee pot plant, to the huge big plant that swallowed people. And then “The Pyjama Game”; “Guys and Dolls” – that was another one that was a great success. “South Pacific”, and who doesn’t like “South Pacific”? And actually “South Pacific” was Wynne de Lautour’s first show, and oh, everyone was just bowled over by that voice, and what a wonderful personality.

Then we went to “The King and I”; John Fletcher was my king and Wynne de Lautour was my lady … I can’t remember her name. Never mind, you’ll know. Then we did “Annie”, which is not the musical “Annie Get Your Gun”, it was “Annie”, with the delightful little girls; oh, I did enjoy that. And then it was “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, and then, I think, “Les Mis”. [Les Misérables] Well “Les Mis” was my first huge musical, and on the opening night the first act went absolutely brilliantly; and we were just getting to the end of the first act and the fire siren went off in the theatre. So we had to all march out of the theatre, over the road to the parking area, and stand there. And I knew there was no fire, but it was what we had to do. By the time we got back I was a nervous wreck. Fortunately, my daughter was doing the lighting for “Les Mis” and she calmed me down considerably, but evidently – we found out afterwards – that one of the smoke machines that we used under the stage had gone off, and that’s why the fire was there. Anyway, it got a very good write-up [chuckle] and went on to be very popular.

Then we did “Jekyll and Hyde”, and that was pretty special too. “A Night At The Races”, which Laurie [Swindell] also directed. I think most of those previous ones she directed as well. I said “The King and I”, and then “My Fair Lady” – now that was a big one. Huge. And my daughter was Eliza Doolittle; and in the paper there was a thing … the headline was ‘Birds of a Feather Flock Together at Waipawa Theatre, with director Valda Peacock, and Eliza Doolittle, (my daughter) Megan Peacock.’ But what a good heading.

Right – and then I did “Cabaret” for Hastings Musical Comedy Company, and then I did “Chess” for M & D, another beautiful show. “Hercules” … not so memorable, [chuckle] but we all have those. “Christmas Cabaret”; and for Napier I did “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, and “Spamalot”, which I loved. And I’ll tell you a little more about “Spamalot” – I was so thrilled to be working again with Napier Operatic, and looking forward to directing the dynamic Monty Python “Spamalot”. This show is not to be missed; in my opinion it has everything a musical should have, and more, from King Arthur, who sets out on a quest to form the Knights of the Round Table and find the Holy Grail – which he never did – and along with other misfit Knights finds Guinevere and a whole lot more. This musical requires character actors, dancers, singers, accents, and also a chorus of six men and six women who can sing and dance and tap. Napier Operatic succeeded in supplying the expertise that I wanted.

I have had over fifty years of providing pleasure and entertainment to thousands of people, not only in Central Hawke’s Bay, but throughout Hawke’s Bay. My last production for Napier was “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, which I remember as a highlight in my career as a director. I have directed at least forty productions up ‘til then; my most favourite was “Les Mis”, as I’ve already told you, and I am lucky enough to be the recipient of Musical Theatre New Zealand’s Medal for twenty-five years Outstanding Service to Theatre; Central Hawke’s Bay District Civic Award; and I am a Central Hawke’s Bay Ambassador – I was; I am no longer. And now I am a QSM, which was such an honour.

Now, where did I get to?

As I was saying, Napier Operatic Society. Now, Hastings’ Theatre Hawke’s Bay, I did “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”; that was rather special, [chuckle] as you can imagine. “Christmas Fair”, which was a musical compiled. “70, Girls, 70” … now I had loads of fun in this. They were all … nearly all seventy or over at the time; they were wonderful! Women and men; we had Jack … and I can’t think of his name, Jack … he did the lovely tap dancing in it. You’ll all know who I mean by Jack. And I remember we were having a dinner that night, and I asked the kitchen staff if they would mind if I had three old ladies going round them with mittens on and asking could they “Please have a potato off your plate – we’re so hungry, and we’ve just got out from the Home”. [Chuckles] And the audience loved it. And those people – honestly, they were just wonderful!

Then I did “Rush”, which was a New Zealand musical, and it was very well attended, and a pleasure to all who did it. I also did “A Night at the Races” there, because you must realise Hawke’s Bay is a racing area, and everybody went to the races in those days. And I also did “Cabaret” for Napier Operatic Society. And for the Central Hawke’s Bay College I did a little show called “Bugsy Malone”.

Well; from my first production of “Irma la Douce” … well before my first production actually … I went to a residential training school for directors of musicals, held at Scots College. In those days we didn’t have any training for directors, so it was with great anticipation I went. It was held in Wellington at Scots College in 1987. The Course Director was John Banners. I think probably all of you know or will’ve heard of John Banners – he was a very, very good director. And he also married one of the prima ballerinas in Wellington as well. His course secretary was Jim Fenton, a very well-known director from the South Island.

Now from there I went and did my first production “Irma la Douce” in 1973. I was a very, very nervous person; and I told you about Gillian attending the opening and I was so nervous ’cause Gillian was there. Anyway, you’ve heard all that. And I was also I was very fortunate that my daughter, Megan Peacock-Coyle cast me in her production of “The Vagina Monologues” in 2008;  I think for ‘Applause for a Cause’, which was, I think, for women who had had trouble with vaginas. [Laughter] Or the cause, anyway. [Chuckles] About fifty-five, sixty shows; I know I’ve missed some out but the old brain lets me down every now and again. But for eighty-one years old, I’m a very happy person. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Valda.